Air or gas meter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1-.

= H. LANE.

AIR 0R GAS METER.

No. 470,826. PatentedMar. 15, 1892'.

witnesses m: "cams Perms cm, mmuma, msmum'nu, n. c.

(No Model?) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. LANE. AIR 0R GAS METER.

No. 470,826. Patented Mar. 15, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOW'ARD LANE, OF BIRMINGHAlVLEN GLAND, ASS IGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JOHNWOODRUFF OULMER, OF NEW BRIGHTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

AIR OR GAS METER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 470,826, dated March15,1892. Application filed April 28, 1891. Serial No. 390.737- (Nomodel.) Patented in England May 25, 1888, NO- 7,674.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HOWARD LANE, a subject of the Queen of England,residing at Birmingham, England, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Air or Gas Meters, (for which I have obtained a patentin Great Britain, No. 7,674, bearing date May 25, 1888,) of which thefollowing is a specification.

Myinvention relates to that class of meters in which a flexiblediaphragm operates alternately as a piston to fill and displace thefluid from a measuring-chamber; and it consists of certain novel partsand combinations of parts and the operation thereof, which areparticularly pointed out and designated in the claims concluding thisspecification.

My invention provides for operating and reversing a trunk-valve by thedirect pressure of the fluid upon its faces, so as to effect a freeregistering relation of its ports with the coacting cylinder-ports ateach stroke of the valve, whereby the reversing movement of thevalve-piston is rendered certain, quick, and sensitive by the suddencheck which is given the fluid passing into the meter when themeasuring-chamber is filled. This free and unrestrained movement of thevalve-piston from a point at which it acts to cutoff the inflow of thewater into the measuring-chamber is a necessity for the meter having itsmeasuring chamber divided by a flexible diaphragm and in which thepiston-valve is operated by the action of a difierence of pressure whicharises between the induction and the eduction of the fluid in order toobtain a continuous flow of the water, for the least retarding orhampering action of the pistonvalve at the end of its stroke wouldrender the action of the valve uncertain, intermittent, and theregistering movement uncertain. Nor could such sensitive automaticaction of the valve-piston be obtained without such a coactingarrangement of the ports as to cause the piston-valve to act, so as tocut off and open the communication with the divided chambers, so as toproduce the sudden difference of pressure between the inflow and theoutflow, as above stated. It is to effect this result that I produce acoacting relation of the piston and the cylinderports with the fixedstops.

Figure 1 is a vertical elevation of the meter, showing itsmeasuring-chamber and diaphragm. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same. Fig.3 is one of the perforated plates of the chamber. Fig. 4 is an enlargedsection of the valve-box and its valve. Fig. 5 is a side view of thesame. Fig. 6 is a top view of the valvebox, and Fig. 7 is a section ofthe same on the line 1 2 of Fig. 4.

a is the receiver or measuring-chamber, made of two parts a,cfiapproximating aspherical form, each part having a flange by whichthey are bolted together to confine between them the edge of a dividingflexible diaphragm therein. Each part is formed with an outsidepassage 1) b for the fluid, which communicates with the opposite sidesof said chamber by the perforated plates 0 c.

The diaphragm d is provided at d with a shield, of rubber, leather,rubber metal, or other suitable material, for closing the passage andserving as a contact-shield for preventing injury to the diaphragm atthese inflow and outflow points. The diaphragm is 'air-proof and is soformed that it can adjustitself exactly to the contour of the insidesurface of the chamber in dividing it into two chambers. 1

A valve-box and valve are fitted to the chamher, having passages to eachhalf of the same, and has also induction and eduction ports andconnections from and to other vessels from which the fluid is drawn orreceived under pressure and conveyed away. The valve is fitted with arod 7o, which passes through a stuffing-boXZ and is connected in anyconvenient manner with counting and recording mechanism, whereby thenumber of times that the vessel is filled with fluid is recorded andregistered.

6 is the cylindrical valve-box.

f is the inlet-passage, and g is the outletpassage.

In the walls of the box are three annular ports e e 6 of which 6 and 6open into the inlet-passage, while the port 6 opens into theoutlet-passage, as seen in Fig. 4..

The valve h (shown) is of the piston type and has ports 2' i 2' in itstubular ends which project on either side of its solid head, to whichthe valve-rod k is secured. The valve by the valve.

is practically free in its movements, as it has no connection with thediaphragm, and its piston-rod is only the means of communicating itsmotion to the registering mechanism. It is limited in its inward strokeby a rod m, extending from one of the box-heads, and it is limited inits outward stroke by a sleeve m, extending inward from the otherbox-head and through which the piston-rod passes. In the position of thevalve shown the gas or other fluid to be measured will enter by thepassages f, e, and z to the inside of the valve 71 and thence by thepassage Z) to the upper part of the measuring-chamber above thediaphragm. The fluid below the diaphragm will pass out by the passagesb, t, and e to the outlet-passage g, the passage 6 being closed lVhenthe diaphragm has de scended to and is pressed eloselyto the lowerchamber part a in every part, the sudden check which is given to thefluid passing into the meter causes an increase of pressure.

This increase of pressure acts upon the solid valve-head and therebycauses its downward stroke, closing the port a and opening the port aand thus admitting the fluid below the diaphragm and opening theeduction to the fluid above the diaphragm. These operations are repeatedas long as the gas flows. The trunk form of the valve therefore requiresthat it shall be open at both ends with a middle solid partition, sothat pressure acting alternately on each side of said partition willmove the valve in the way stated to control the inlet and the outletports to render the action automatic and the flow continuous through thevalve-box, and this automatic action of the valve is produced solely bythe diiference of pressure of the inflow of the fluid to be measured,which is caused by the termination of the range of action of thediaphragm as the chamber is filled and emptied. For this purpose thevalve is in direct communication with the inlet and the outlet passagesof the measuring-chamber to allow it to be reversed as a free valve bythe increase of pressure on one side thereof, caused by the checkimparted to the induction of the fluid when the measuring-chamber isfilled.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a fluid-meter, the combination,with ameasuring-chamber divided by a flexible diaphragm, a valve-case havingports communicating with the divided chambers, and atrunkvalve havingcoacting ports arranged to be operated by the direct pressure of thefluid upon its faces, of stops having a fixed relation to the cylinderand arranged in such re lation to said ports as to eifect a freestarting of said piston at the end of each stroke, sub stantially asdescribed.

2. In a fluid-meter in which an elastic diaphragm is employed for thepurpose stated, the valve-case having communication at each end with theopposite sides of said diaphragm and provided with the ports e 6 e thestud m, and the sleeve on, the induction and the eduction ports, and avalve having tubular walls provided with coacting ports i, separated bya solid head and having a valve-rod, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hcreun to set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

HOWARD LANE. lVitnesses:

WILLIAM S. SMITH, 4C4 Chapman Rd, Small Heath, Birmingham.

\VALTER It. KEEN, 276 Victoria Rtl, Acton, Birmingham.

